Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry for biomarker discovery.

The proteome project, initiated in 1995, was made possible by 2-DE combined with MS. The project main objective was and remains the identification of all proteins expressed by a cell, tissue or organism in a given time and condition. Following this objective, the global profiling of proteins in health versus pathological state by the 2-DE/MS-based proteomic approach has contributed to the elucidation of the basic mechanisms of disease by discovering candidate disease biomarkers and disease targets for new drug development. This review will briefly summarize the historical evolution of 2-DE up to today, and review 2-DE/MS technology and its specific methods of study of immunoresponse (immunoproteomics), PTM of proteins, complex protein-protein interactions (interactome), the proteome of cell membrane and intracellular proteome turnover in disease biomarker discovery.